In a room filled with black and white photos of the men and women of Alamance County, the “Portraits of Hope” photo exhibition and project strives to communicate the authentic stories of these people through simple photos and words.
The goal is to show details of the actual person rather than the contrived stereotypes of individuals on welfare.
“I believe that capturing reality through projects like ‘Portraits of Hope’ is the most effective tool we have in attempting to make public assistance programs effective and combat erroneous, often harmful portrayals of their recipients,” said senior Sophie Rupp, who worked on the project along with dozens of Elon University students and community members.
The exhibit is part of a five-year research project called the Voices of Welfare. Students got involved after taking Professor of Anthropology Tom Mould’s course of the same name, which combined traditional classroom work with research and service learning.
Since the conclusion of the course, students of all majors have shown interest in participating in the project.
“When we first started thinking about taking this research to a more public forum, we convened a number of the families we had been working with to develop an exhibit that would reflect their vision and ideas for how they might share their stories,” Mould said.
The photographic installment, available to view until Feb. 23 at the Isabella Cannon Room in the Center for the Arts, combines visual and audio media to create a multi-dimensional view of the men and women of Alamance Country struggling to make ends meet.
In addition to the photographs themselves, each individual’s story is on display next to the photograph as well as a photo of the item each person valued most in their lives, or in some cases, the actual item.
There is also an option to scan the QR code next to the photograph and hear the subjects tell their stories in their own words. All of the content is available on the project’s website.
Of the 15 photographs included in the exhibition, Elon iMedia student senior Erin Turner and community member and photographer Trina Holt divided the work. Turner focused more on people affiliated with Allied Churches, and Holt photographed men and women who work with the Burlington Housing Authority.
“The project really stuck out to me because I am really interested in homelessness and poverty and ways to make those situations better for individuals who have to undergo those circumstances,” Turner said. “So I immediately jumped on the project and began working with Tom Mould back in September.”
According to the Allied Churches of Alamance County Website, in 2012, 11 percent of Alamance County citizens were homeless. The North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks said that North Carolina has one of the highest rates in the United States, around 26 percent, of children under the age of 18 who are regularly food insecure.
The major emphasis of the gallery was to provide the real stories and faces of these individuals to debunk the common misconceptions people have about individuals on welfare.
“It’s important because you hear ‘individuals on welfare,’ but you never get to put a face to a name,” Turner said. “It’s really good to humanize the individuals and the circumstances and make yourself more accountable for helping these individuals and understand that the stereotypes aren’t true, so it’s cool to become more socially aware of how you can help out.”
The exhibit is part of a larger project that will continue on after the “Portraits of Hope” exhibit closes its doors at the end of February. The Voices of Welfare project has hosted other events, including the Community Connections forum a few weeks ago at the Paramount Theater, which facilitated discussions of perceptions of poverty and welfare in Alamance County, in North Carolina and across the country.
“Our hope is that visitors will see the humanity we share across gender, ethnic and socio-economic lines, and be motivated to build connections across these lines,” Mould said.
“Portraits of Hope” is open Monday and Thursday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Isabella Cannon Room.